DEPRESSION IN NURSES: A SECONDARY DATA ANALYSIS OF THE NATIONAL SURVEY OF THE WORK AND HEALTH OF NURSES

Quality patient outcomes are reliant on the calibre of nursing, which in turn is a result of healthy work environments and practice settings. It is imperative during the current shortage of nurses that healthcare organizations retain these valued knowledge workers. The National Survey of the Work and Health of Nurses (NSWHN) 2005 examined a broad spectrum of nurses’ work and their health status, with one finding of particular concern. A higher rate of depression (1 in 10) exists in nurses compared to their counterparts in other national surveys. This secondary analysis of the NSWHN data focused therefore, on the outcome of depression in a subsample of nurses and examined associations between depression and work related variables such as job strain, role overload, respect, social and employer supports and nurses perception of the quality of care they gave. A multivariate logistic regression found that the risk of depression is increased for nurses who are experiencing job strain and role overload and for nurses who experience a lack of respect. One surprising finding in the preliminary analysis was that nurses who met the case definition of depression may not recognize they are suffering from depression and may not be receiving treatment